Writing for the Child You Used to Be

surrounded by creatives from all over the world talking about their work and expanding my vision of what was possible. The Nuna/Now festival was also impactful for me.  A cultural exchange of art from Iceland and Manitoba. My Mother took me to see a contemporary dance show that was so exciting and blew my little 10 year old mind as I watched the performers contort their bodies and create parts of the soundtrack with their voices.  I think about the expansiveness of Lake Winnipeg and staring out over it often when I am faced with another blank page and I imagine smelling the moss from the forest I grew up in when I feel stuck artistically.

When did writing and theatre first become something you wanted to pursue seriously?

I think I’ve always known that I wanted to tell stories.  I was a big reader as a kid, walking with these other people through their pages made me feel surrounded by friends and so creating stories became natural for me.  I started singing and received voice lessons from Janice Arnason from the time I was 11 until I graduated high school and those lessons were the first things that inspired a love of performance arts in me.  Later I had the chance to take classes at Manitoba Theatre for Young People (MTYP) and took drama at Gimli High School.  The theatre bug bit me pretty hard but it wasn’t until I met Brian Drader who was my playwrighting professor at the University of Winnipeg that I thought about playwrighting as a career.

What was it like moving from Gimli to Winnipeg as a young adult, and how did that transition influence your creative work?

I moved to Winnipeg the day after my high school graduation and have lived here ever since.  I was lucky because through my time at MTYP as a teenager I already had connections and friends in Winnipeg.  There are parts of myself, especially being queer, that I feel are easier to explore in Winnipeg than they were in Gimli.  I did drag under the name Petty Davis for a while, I met so many more people who create theatre as a living than I’d ever known in Gimli and so it made it easier in some ways to see myself as capable of being an artist.  Living in Winnipeg has also high-lighted the ways that Gimli has forever shaped my perspective; I am interested in the ways that the land shapes us, I am comfortable in long silences and sitting with myself, I am able to get along with just about everyone.

How did the idea for Tad & Birdy first come together?

Tad and Birdy actually originated from a writing exercise that Pablo Felices-Luna gave me and the other creators in MTYP’s Sandbox a few years ago.  He had each of us randomly draw a children’s song from a hat and then pitch a show inspired by the music.  My song was about tadpoles and I immediately saw this little tadpole in a jar asking a bird about life.  After that it was all of the work of writing and rewriting several drafts until Tad and Birdy became what it is today.

What themes were most important for you to explore in this story, particularly for young audiences?

The themes of friendship and change were really important to me.  I think people forget sometimes how scary being a little kid can be, the world looks so big and everything is new.  I wanted to explore how it can feel to be so fresh in the world and the ways that friendship between kids change one another.

What does it mean to you to see Tad & Birdy produced as a world premiere with Manitoba Theatre for Young People?

For a long time I have thought of MTYP as my second home.  I spent a lot of time there in the Musical Theatre Company as a teenager and then went on to work as a box office attendant, instructor’s assistant, and eventually an instructor and director.  I have been lucky enough to see pieces of theatre on MTYP’s mainstage that have changed my life and I’ve watched countless childrens’ eyes widen at the magic that happens in that space.  Having Tad & Birdy premiere there, in the place that shaped so much of life is overwhelming.  I feel incredibly lucky and I’ve worked really hard for a long time to get to this point.

How has the development process with MTYP shaped or strengthened the final production?

Tad & Birdy would not exist without MTYP’s Sandbox and wouldn’t exist as it does today without support from Young People’s Theatre Toronto’s Leaps and Bounds program which partially funded Tad & Birdy’s development along with MTYP.  I have relied heavily on Pablo Felices-Luna as dramaturg to this piece, he has helped me to step outside of the little boy’s bedroom to get a broader look around at Tad and Birdy’s worlds.  Creating a play is a community effort and MTYP has been the community behind this one.

What do you find most rewarding about writing for children and youth?

I love how honest I have to be when writing for young audiences.  There’s no pretension allowed because youth are the smartest audiences and they will see right through anything that doesn’t feel real or grab their attention.  I also love getting to write for young Anika.  I think about them when I’m working, what did Anika need to hear, what made Anika laugh, how did Anika want to be treated as a 5, 6, 7 year old?  Asking myself those questions and answering honestly can be very healing.

The show will tour schools across Manitoba — what does it mean to bring your work directly to students?

First of all, I find it amazing that Tad & Birdy is going to be performed at the school I grew up in in Gimli. Access to the arts is a vital part of an education and I feel honoured that my play gets to meet youth across Manitoba exactly where they are, hopefully they enjoy the show (or at least the break from class).

How does this production fit into your broader career as a playwright?

I love that Tad & Birdy is my first professional production.  I think in order to live the life that I want, the creative and brave life that I want, I needed to write this play.  Tad and Birdy have helped me to step into the world again, they remind me to keep trying because it is hard and scary in the world and it is also beautiful and so worth exploring.  We’ll see where we go from here but the world is so big and so blue and so full.

What advice would you give to young Manitobans interested in writing or theatre?

DO IT!  That sounds silly and simple but I do think it’s the hardest part.  If you want to write, sit down and write.  If your community offers any form of performance or theatre, audition, and if you don’t get the part ask how you can be of service, volunteer for arts organizations.  If you want a career in the arts in Manitoba, try to get good at every single part of theatre; produce, write, act, stage manage, learn about tech.  Feel free to send people e-mails!  A lesson I wish I’d learned earlier is that everyone in the arts got where they are with some help from someone who had been there before.  If you love an arts organization or a playwright or an actor, send them an e-mail asking if you can talk to them about their work and your interest in the arts as a career.  The worst that will happen is getting a no, which I have had plenty of at this point in my career, the best case is you learn something new and maybe get a future opportunity out of the deal.  If you are kind, honest, curious, determined, and talking to people in the arts community, the work will find you.

Don’t be afraid of a side hustle!  My main job is no longer in the arts and having that steady income has allowed me to invest more time and thought into the work I want to create.  Your life is your own and you get to live it any way that you want, follow what is important to you and be genuinely nice to those around you.

Tad and Birdy premieres Friday, January 30 and runs on the MTYP Mainstage until February 7. Click here to get tickets online or call our box office at 204.942.8898!